Airtel Upgrades its Network to ‘Dual Carrier’ Technology in Delhi-NCR To Bring 4G Speeds On 3G!

Call it Reliance Jio scare or just the usual up gradation for a network carrier, but Airtel has made a huge change to its network. Airtel 4G LTE service, at least in Delhi-NCR has been the best so far and is reliable in almost every city across India.

However, to make it more enticing for new and existing customers, Airtel has upgraded its network to a ‘Dual Carrier’ technology, using an additional spectrum in the 2100MHz band. This enables the carrier to provide 4G like speeds on 3G network, a big plus for those who do not own 4G-ready smartphones.

This up gradation is a part of Project Leap, an initiative taken by Bharti Airtel to improve its telephony services. The new 2100MHz spectrum has been combined with the existing 5MHz band to give it additional capabilities. This also makes Airtel the first mobile operator in India to do so.

Dual Carrier 3G (DC or DC-HSPA) offers up to 42 Mbps speed and is based on technology that bonds two 3G channels together to provide a faster data session. Actual speeds will vary depending on things like signal level, distance from the tower and so on.

The highlight of ‘Dual Carrier’ technology deployment is that customers will be able to enjoy 4G like data speeds even when they are on the 3G. The technology will also help in optimizing the backend engagement between the network and mobile devices, enabling users to enjoy extended battery life on their mobile devices.

Ravindra Singh Negi, CEO – Delhi/NCR, Bharti Airtel said, “Airtel has consistently set the benchmark when it comes to deployment of latest technology to improve customer experience. With ‘Dual Carrier’ technology, we will be able to deliver a seamless 4G experience across NCR. We would like to thank our customers for their cooperation during the network upgrade and invite them to experience our network.”

Considering Reliance Jio has poorer network as compared to Airtel, the latter has an advantage here. It has 11.43 million customers alone in Delhi and is going strong with the highest retention rate. Now with this Dual Carrier scheme, even those on 3G phones will be able to enjoy faster speeds.

What’s next in Project Leap?

As part of Project Leap, Airtel has been deploying thoughtful and interesting technology solutions for better indoor coverage and network optimization; overhauling legacy networks with new equipment and making investments in additional spectrum and fiber to significantly improving its network capabilities across the country since last year.

Airtel was also the first operator in the country to deploy ‘Carrier Aggregation’ technology, in Mumbai and Kerala, that combines capacities of spectrum in 2300 MHz (TD-LTE) and 1800 MHz (FD-LTE) and delivers data speeds on up to 135 Mbps with compatible handsets.

We will soon see fiber network and internet from Airtel in large cities to take on other fiber network providing companies like ACT and Jio. The company is making an effort to overhaul its service in India, through all transparency which makes us believe that only a trigger was needed for such a change, in this case is Reliance Jio.